1927-1933 Vaughan Novelty Mfg Co. Multi Opener No. 100B -Chicago,IL

Made by the Vaughan Novelty Mfg. Co. at 3211 W. Carroll Ave. in East Garfield Park located in Chicago, Illinois. Vaughan Novelty Manufacturing Co.
(founded in 1910) was renowned American producer of can, milk, and bottle openers. Vaughan’s Catalog No. 100B featured the multi-use openings for cans, capped bottles, corked medicine and wine bottles. The Vaughan 100B was introduced in 1927 and redesigned in 1933 from a “claw” bottle opener like this one to a “churchkey” bottle opener replacement. The churchkey was to accommodate the “crown bottle” production boom after Prohibition was repealed. Fair condition for such a rare find. Weighs 1.5 ounces and measures 5.5 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. The can opener claw is a 100% Tempered Steel Flexible Blade which during its time would have been a valuable feature. A Vaughn’s all-in-one opener included a bottle opening claw, a can opener blade, and a corkscrew. This invention would have been invaluable as a portable bartender's or camper's pocket tool. These tools were designed for preparing food and drinks outdoors, at picnics, or at home during the Prohibition and pre-WWII eras.
Bottle Opening Claw: Also known as a crown cap lifter, this tool pried off the crimped metal cans and bottles of soda, beer, and tonic water.
Can Opener Blade: These were typically "lobster claw" or triangular punch blades. They were punched downward into the lid of a tin can and rocked forward to manually saw or pierce the metal to open tinned rations or canned food.
Corkscrew: Used for extracting corks from wine and medicinal tonic bottles.
Because screw caps were not widely adopted for wine until much later, this was an essential daily implement for the dining table or travel.

ABOUT VAUGHAN NOVELTY MFG CO:
Named after its founder Harry Lockwood Vaughan (1871-1945), the company began originally on Chicago’s famous Lake St. in 1910 under the name Crown Throat and Opener.
A son of prominent doctor and Civil War hero from Louisville, Kentucky, Harry Vaughan would not go into medicine. Harry followed his brother Millard into a career in sales. Harry would go on to build an impressive resume for which would later become his own personal empire. His first job after graduating college in the mid-1890s, was at Louisville’s Weissinger Tobacco Company. At Weissinger, Harry was introduced to canning and tinning operations. By 1898, he had relocated to New York City as a sales agent and soon caught on with the Liquid Carbonic Company—an industry leader in soda fountains.
By the age of 34, Harry had an established background in canning, bottling, and beverages. Harry Vaughan took the next logical step in 1905, joining Baltimore’s massively successful Crown Cork and Seal Company as their Western Sales Representative in Chicago, Illinois. Over the next few years, Harry not only refined his skills as a salesman, but also learned the nuts and bolts of designing and manufacturing. This included paying close attention to the feedback of customers, particularly the growing complaints about bottles getting chipped when crown corks were pulled off with standard bottle openers. In 1909, with a network of Midwestern sales connections firmly established, Harry Vaughan became something of a “mercenary” in the bottle cap industry. He would eventually leave Crown Cork and Seal Company to sign with the New York Specialty Company. NYSC were the manufacturers of the widely retailed “Security” brand bottle stoppers. Just six months later in the summer of 1909, he signed as the Western representative of the United Cork & Seal Co. of Millis, Massachusetts. The following year in 1910, Harry broke it off with United Cork & Seal and opened his own company named the Crown Throat and Opener Co. in Chicago. Obviously, the company name was a blatant attempt to piggyback off the trusted name of his former employer, Crown Cork & Seal. He would surprisingly keep this name for several years before re-branding under apparent legal pressure in 1915 to include his name…Vaughan Novelty Mfg. Co. The original Crown Throat factory was located at 136 W. Lake Street in Chicago as a small business but by 1911 the company moved to Fulton St so Harry could accommodate newly needed staff. A master at his craft, Harry Vaughan was granted Design Patent No. 42, 445 in 1912 for a "pocket bottle opener," and later Patent No. 1, 490, 149 for their famous "Over the Top" opener. The 1920s saw Vaughan Novelty relocate to what would be its primary factory for the next 40+ years—a one-story, 100 x 100 ft. factory at 3211 W. Carroll Avenue in Garfield Park, built for just $25,000. During the Prohibition era, bottle production was at an all-time low in the country which didn’t affect Vaughan Novelty MFG Co. But, Harry had to expand into new markets, including soda, dairy, and baked goods. The company started making more milk bottle carriers and cap lifters, mini spatulas for making pies, orange peelers, cork screws, ice picks, lemon squeezers, can openers, corn forks, etc. A Vaughan patented cap lifter-corkscrew combo called the “Nifty” became the company’s top selling product during Prohibition and the Great Depression. When most of Vaughan’s competitors were bankrupt, the Vaughan “Quick & Easy” can opener became the No. 1 way to crack open a brand-new "canned" brew after the end of Prohibition. All production of Vaughan’s usual line of products was brought to a screeching halt during World War II. For a solid four years, from 1942 through 1945, the Carroll Avenue plant was an appendage of the U.S. government, making bomb fuses for the Army and Navy. Shortly after the war ended, Harry envisioned an expanded operation capable of producing 100 million beer can openers a year. Sadly, Harry Vaughan never got to see his business return to its usual peacetime affairs to witness his own vision succeed. He died of pneumonia in 1945 at the age of 74.
Harry left much of his company in the hands of his longtime second-in-command, John M. Grace.
Perhaps sensing the oncoming tide, President John Grace had the name of the company officially changed in 1950 to the Vaughan Manufacturing Co., dropping the “novelty” part in order to seem more practical (serious).
The pull tab on soda and beer cans, however, cut deeply into Vaughan’s can opener sales from the 1960s onward. Screw top lids on bottles and new competition from cheaply made imported openers put Vaughan into financial decline. Vaughan moved from the old Carroll Avenue factory not for a fancy new facility, but for the rundown former plant of the Vanderkook & Sons printing press company at 900 North Kilpatrick Avenue in West Chicago’s Garfield Park. Vaughan Manufacturing Co. eventually ceased operations around 1984…making Vaughan bottle openers and other products a memory.

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